Its the floor for the second main game...so why not call it the second floor? [ Sara says, because this is a fine and logical way to think about how the game gets split up. Do you want her to keep track of every floor Sou. She has a life. ]
The laptop. It didn't get taken to the next floor... Weren't you just keeping it in your room until then? [ Or maybe her Sou still had it, but had just hidden it, a disturbing thought. ] If...If that was me...then it can't be the main game yet. There's a ten minute break before the game so they would have cleaned the body up.
[ She remembers how quickly they came to collect Mishima's. So that body had to be extremely recent. Even more curious if it was her collar that killed her, then there was no way the organization didn't know where her body was.]
Joe...? [ She's so wrapped up in her thoughts the name takes a second to register before she remembers, oh, balancing guy. Yeah she doesn't want to think about him. ] Lets forget about the AI's for now! The laptop or Rangers chip...might be more within our grasp.
...That's some interesting reasoning you have there, Sara. It's the floor two stairs up from the first floor. Of course it's the third floor.
[They're both wrong, it's actually floor B4 because they're underground. He goes from looking smug to glancing down in hard thought.]
I've been thinking about that... if this fake you committed a rule violation of some kind...
[It... feels like it both makes sense and doesn't. Sara isn't... well, okay, she can be stupid or weird sometimes, but not really in a way that directly jeopardizes her that badly.
Also ??? Bit of an odd response. He would have thought she'd have wanted to see the AI... he was a bit prepared to try and head her off from that because he'd realized halfway though going through the computers he could remember that it was probably still in it's unaltered state and he'd have to fix it before turning it on but... still, saves him from having to do that... he grins.]
Right! If this is before the main game... then it's absolutely still in my room. And you're the one who found the chip in the first place, right? You know where it is. [He and Miss Nao didn't know much more than that the evil AI had told her to get it from Sahalin, so that was a lucky break... a lucky break taking advantage of Sara's amazing tendency to velcro up important items.]
Do we count the main game rooms as floors, then? There's so many stairs here, I can't keep track of where we are!
[ Genuinely frustrated...]
I..d-don't think I'd violate the rules so brazenly? [ Its not like there were many rules. What could she have done? Refused to enter the main game? Tried to escape? But there was no evidence of either. ] But that was an execution...so there must be a reason.
Lets head there. [ She's turning the corner to the main lobby, pushing open the door so they can walk through to the rooms. ] Kai's laptop first. For the chip we'd need both Rio and Sahfalin here. Rio has to die to get it.
[ So, Kai's laptop might be there best way to search this place. Unless they want to team up to kill different robot. Sara pushes at the door firmly, making the dark hallway flash with light and the sudden blow of the same dark charred scent of the stairs. A few bodies lay crumpled, Keiji lies still in a similar pool of blood, but Reko, a little closer to the door, is an headless husk ending in a tangle of charred wires. Sara goes very still for a second, and then firmly, pointledly, steps over her. ]
[This is where Shin realizes he's been treating the main game rooms as like when you're briefly teleported to an unrelated map in a video game. God now he's questioning everything. Wait, no, wait, hang on... argh, don't do this to him. He had the actual floor map in his hands at one point why is this happening.
Thankfully for him the conversation moves on, and then Sara opening the door kills it.]
...Ah.
[So it's... not just Sara. He stands in the doorway for a bit, looking down. The doll Reko... he closes his eyes and smoothly moves around her, coming up next to Sara. A little more of that familiar nervousness is edging back into his disposition despite himself. He couldn't even really say why.]
What happened here... I-it's like a massacre. [A horrible thought starts to occur to him, that he wants to be wrong about. Sometimes, every so often, a tendency to extrapolate will turn out to be on the right track. He scratches at his neck through the scarf, slowly.] Do you think... the others...?
...We're precious candidates for their game...they wouldn't waste our lives without reason.
[ Sara says it calmly, but her voice is flat and stiff. There's a tremor of anger, or a tremor of fear, but shes stamping both down enough to push her bangs out of her face and not look at Keiji's body in the corner. That's not him. The real Keiji is alive. ]
To execute three people...would be wasting votes, right? So it could be, the game is over? They didn't need us anymore? [ What a terrible thought. She turns to look at Sou with a haunted expression, before she squares her shoulders and looks him dead on. ]
Sou, are you still sure you want to go look in your room?
...You could say the entire game was wasting our lives without reason, ahaha. I think you're giving them too much credit, Miss Sara. Those attractions could have been lethal, you know. Not to mention the first trials...
[Put there to thin out the herd... Disgusting, really. He faces her haunted expression with an empty smile before turning his head away.]
But execution... can't be they just got bored, could it?
[He glances back up at her after she squares her shoulders and asks.]
.......It's like you said, isn't it? If we want a clue, then we have to go forward.
[The worst part about things like this, he doesn't miss it. Nobody will just give you the answers, Shin. Go find things out for yourself. But he can brace himself for what they might find. It's not real. It never happened. This is all just... the school's macabre puppet show. Kanna is out there and alive and... as fine as he could hope for. And himself... well, he's died before...
...and the elevator is still there. There's a beat and then he starts moving.]
Is it without reason..? Why we were there. Gashu talked about it..and so did Mi--Hiyori. Like it was a ritual. [ The scope of the game, lying under their feet like a rotting underbelly was hard to comprehend. Years and years and years and years of this, lying around them in waste. Nothing beside remains. ]
Balancing. [ Sara mutters quietly when Shin brings up first trials as if thats a concept she's explained to him. Again, another knot in the web of preparation. She coughs, raising her voice as she follows after him. ] I don't think I'm wrong. This game had a purpose, like these collars. So I absolutely can't believe they'd kill us on a whim.
[ She follows after him towards his room, but half a step behind. Normally stalwart, Sara doesn't want to be close when it comes to Sou's room. The knowledge of her own corpses location is strange comfort. They've already seen it, so there's no way it can be here, doing anything suspicious. With that in mind, it should be easy to put her worries and sins aside, and help Sou...right? ]
[Gashu cared about the game enough to kill himself for it, that much Shin knows for sure. It's clear an intense amount of money was invested in this alone. But being deeply invested in the game doesn't mean you care about the players. At least not the kind of care that isn't ash and tar, sick and sweet and utterly rotten-core false...]
Ahaha... well, you'd know more wouldn't you?
[A bit of a jab, Midori's last name the tuning fork it's done with... but also his way of dropping slash conceding the argument.
His pace is brisk and stiff but at least there's no other bodies in the hall connecting the rooms... Shin comes to a stop at his, staring at the door. The scarf swings with the motion and stills like a pendulum. He sets his hand on the doorknob. There's a second or two before he inhales, exhales, and opens it like ripping off the bandaid.
The smell of blood instantly once more assaults their senses. Shin freezes, fingers dangling then falling off the doorknob, looking into the room with widened eyes before slowly walking in.]
cracks my knuckles as i prepare to spend my evening writing more descriptions of corpses
[ She doesn't have a response to that. Instead, she stands silently behind him as Shin turns the handle. His eyes widen, and he steps inside shakily, following by the reeking stench of blood. Sara falls in half step behind him, tugging at the bow of her uniform with hidden anxeity.
Shin's room looks much the same as it had, all those months ago. The bed is crumpled and unmade, the warm lights ascew and the windows dark. The only splash of color is a vivid stain of red and teal crumpled by the side of the bed. Shin lies chest down...the head itself is missing, instead replaced by a stain of lurid red which blends into the puddle of singed scarf. His hand is still outstretched, reaching out forward with bloody fingers and several broken nails. As Sara stares, she could almost swear she saw them twitch, but that might have been her own rapidly blurring vision.
But that wasn't the only thing in the room, when Sara raised her gaze to the bedside table, Sara saw a familiar bucket and mess of green hair that had every half hearted comfort dead in its tracks. ]
[He walks in and, well, even with mental preparation... his thoughts go choppy and red. It's him. His scarf. His blood. He's dead... He kind of feels like he's underwater, the same feeling that he had in the hall of mirrors, of being in waking nightmare, of that oppressive weight of unheard wine-glass noise and being watched and judged by unknown standards found wanting.
On the outside, he just sways a little, glazed eyes fixed on it and hand firmly in scarf. His mind is oil on water suddenly, separated out. He's watching himself move.]
Gloomy... [It's a murmur, a comment, a sigh, detached. He takes a step forward, and actually lifts his eyes up and what he sees... it's enough to crash through that like the crack of lightning that happens when two charges collide. His voice is very, very small.]
...K- Kanna...?
[Kanna? It's the only thought in his head. That she still has her head is registering on the subconscious level but not breaking through.]
Edited (forgot formatting sfdgfhgh also didn't like the same word repeating) 2021-09-13 07:06 (UTC)
[ Just imagine Sara is standing stock still and speechless behind Sou, because a miracle happens before she can even move to comfort him. The small shape in the corner of the bed moves with frantic panic, wide green eyes ]
Sou! SOU!
[ Kanna Kazuchi, small, collarless and alive, stands on the other side of the bed, shaking like a leaf. The front of her shirt is stained with blood, her eyes are glazed and shaking but she looks at Shin with a feverish clarity. ]
Y-you're alive? Did it stop? Did Kanna mistake something again? ...She thought she saw...
[ It's funny because...its not a convincing lie. The body is right there between them, like the phone, like everything else, but Kanna isn't the type of girl. She wanted to stand on her own, for the kind words of the people who protected her...but it was their words that mattered, even if they were lies. She was weak like that. Even if Sou wasn't real, she wanted to see him again. She wanted to hear: It's alright.
She sprints to meet him, stepping over his own body to grip at the corners of his jacket. Her sleeves are wet and red, but she reaches up a shaking hand to grab at his scarf and sob into his chest. ]
Kanna was so afraid. She...she thought you were gone, Sou. Kanna was so useless, she couldn't do anything. Again and again...she can't protect anyone. [ The rest is cut off by a sob. ]
[This time... there's no hesitation at all. No glass-carefulness, or possessive placement, like his touch is tightly controlled poison. He hopes she can put up with his poison a little longer, because he's hugging her as tightly as he can (which is not very, but it's the thought that counts).
And if his breath is hitching a little as well, it's just silent laughter.]
Kanna... [His heart is breaking. There's a long stretch of time he leaves it at that, working his tongue with his teeth because he can't mess this up again, he can't.] You're just a kid... I-it's not your job to... we're supposed to protect you, that's how it is...
[He's giving silent thanks to the body on the floor, himself both dead and alive and Kanna alive alive alive.]
Still in the hall, that half step hesitance behind Sou casting her perfectly in shadow as she watches Kanna reach out to Sou. The way his breath hitches, the way they cling to each other. Truly, its undoubtable how much they cared for each other. She can't even be sure why she doubted it. She's never seen Sou look like this, never in a million years. Never seen him smile like there wasn't anything weighing him down, not a trace of Sou Hiyori to be seen.
She ruined this. She...it was her. There's no one else she can blame. She took this away from him--the words catch-- I didn't want too! What had she been thinking back then...the memories are fuzzy with panic, the thought process of a girl she knows is her, but could hardly recognize.
Kanna's getting blood all over Shin's shirt. She's hugging him...Sara...Sara can't look. ]
[ She didn't hug Sou before she died. Kanna. She didn't hug him. So why now? She's never seen this before...
She's gripping her head, sweating bullets, and if the two in front of her weren't so distracted, they'd probably notice. Sara lowers her hands.
Kanna...at what point did Sara stop thinking about Kanna like she was a person, instead of a nameless sin? Back then, she thanked Sara, she told Sara too look after Sou, and Sara's been trying, right? She defended him from Midori, she helped him here, keeping that will alive. Even if looking at Sou's hateful expression...she thought maybe she'd regretted it. That she made the wrong choice. Kanna had been a kid, Sou was right, but Sara she...
She'd grown numb to it, just a little. To the reality of not being able to save Kanna and Nao. But now it stood stark and cruel before her, a thousand times worse then anything Midori had said about her true nature.
[ But even still, among the roiling horror inside her, that vile voice still spoke, black as tar. The part of her, however small at first, but growing larger.
She...cannot break down here. She cannot, absolutly not, NEVER let Sou know. He'd kill her. She knows he will, even if she tries to carry on Kanna's wish. He'd kill her, and she'd deserve it. She doesn't want to die.
The two of them are still distracted, so...so...its enough time to bite down on the palm of her hand, and stifle any cry. Force her face back into something more approaching greatfullness. Somehow, she'd doubt Sou would notice, with Kanna by his side again. She wasn't good at emoting at the best of times. She was clammy enough, from her brush with her own corpse...
[Is he a little pettily annoyed when Sara speaks up before Kanna can finish? Yes. But he can try and be the better person here. He'd almost forgotten she was there...
He takes a step swinging outwards so they're all facing each other, breaking the hug; the arm closest to Kanna lingering for a second more before returning to it's usual place. He's still standing close to her, the way Sara might remember... going into a room to see them there like peas in a pod.]
Yep. Just the two of us, though.
[The spell's sort of been broken... now he has no idea how he's going to deal with this. He wipes the edges of his eyes with a thumb matter-of-factly, falling back into a default. It's one thing to want to change, another to rip off every inch of your own tattered stitched-together skin. He should know.]
Let's get you out of here, Kanna.
[Maybe she'd disappear like smoke and mirrors, the moment he took his eyes off her, and he knows he'll hate the school deeply and vindictively for it, but he couldn't live with himself either, insomuch as he still can, if he didn't try. She can't stay here, in the silent dark with only corpses.
...it's probably apparent that thoughts of the laptop have been detonated. That sort of thing happens even when you're not behind it, Sara.]
[ She's just the worst person in the world like that..
She waves a hand to say hello. Sara might not be like Shin, in some concrete belief her touch is poison, but she thinks if Kanna comes any closer she might loose what composure she's regained. ]
Yes, everyone else... [ The look she shoots Shin is hesitant and tight, how much should they say? ] Everyone else seemed...do you know what happened?
[ The second look she shoots Shin is more severe, a pained wild, indescribable expression, half close to something genuine breaking through because yes, she might want to protect Kanna somewhere, deep among every conflicted feeling, but this isn't real, is it? This is still that elevator...a nightmare meant to torment them. ...Torment her, probably. Shin seems happy. But the school knew what she couldn't bear to see. ]
[ When Shin's arm moves, Kanna still hangs onto his sleeve, a single hand clinging for a point of contact. Its unsually clingy for Kanna, but she's just had a shock. So maybe she doesn't want to let go. ]
Kanna...she...doesn't know. [ It takes an few tries for he to get the words out, gripping Shin's coat like a lifeline. ] We were alone in the room...and all the collars went off. It was so noisy. She could hear it...all across the floor.
[ Her other hand comes up to grip at her bucket, staring down at her feet as the younger girl tries to cling to a courage that feels too big for her. But Kanna...she needs to tell someone, she can't break down like Kugie. She wants to understand, so she has to focus. ]
But now Kanna is confused. Because, what she remembers isn't true. She thought...Sou...When he heard that. He grabbed Kanna. He did something with her collar, but before Kanna could even blink, he'd pushed her away. It was so fast. Kanna didn't even have a chance to try! She c-couldn't, not even in time to ask him why! [ The damn finally breaks, and she wrenches her hand away from Sou to sob suddenly into her hands. ]
Did..that not happen? Is everything actually okay, and Kanna's just crazy? She's so confused, because Sara and Sou are here and okay, and getting along now. Does this mean she died?
[He gives Sara a harried expression over Kanna's head in return of like - well, what do you expect him to do? He knows it's not real, he knows it's all an illusion but... what do you expect him to do? Watch her as he abandons her? Get a real good look at what that would look like? He doesn't trust this as far as he can throw it, he's waiting for the other shoe to drop and turn this into as much of a nightmare as the wolf but... until then... he can't do it. He just can't. Something in him's broken and he can't do that, jamming whenever he tries to pull the lever.
He doesn't try to shake Kanna off or detach her as she explains... she's Allowed. :' )]
I wouldn't think about it too hard, if I were you.
[Easy, almost too easy, to slip into the same groove, the same footsteps. Don't even bother Kanna, silly child. You wouldn't get it, so don't even try. Just leave it to him and do what he says... and don't betray him. Some soft part of him mewls a pained warning, and it widens into a sharp split, like turning something double-sided inside out, when she asks if she died, because he knows that well, hand hovering and falling as she sobs, leaning over, head turned to her.]
Y-you're still breathing, aren't you? Just focus on that...
[What she's said though... the collars all going off at once? That's... not impossible, but why? Why end the game there? He can belatedly and begrudgingly admit it... Sara has a point. It's bizarre. Kanna's though... he must have used his key on her. He can't help but glance at himself on the floor, like levering up a scab. Blood under his fingernails... he'd regretted it, he'd clawed at his collar and spat at the world in his last moments, still trying any way out to survive but... before that, he'd done it, knowing it. In at least one universe, even if it was a school's sick play, he'd done it. He'd asked Sidney what made them different... and this is... in it's own way, an answer.]
Ahaha... I guess this means... you've won, Kanna. You've won! Ahahahaha....
[The laugh and the smile... they're warped by his own incongruous relief.]
[ Her eyes are still full of tears, even as she turns to grab onto Sou's arm, the already stained fabric stretching taunt as she stares up at him. ]
Don't! Just don't! Don't make it sound like Kanna wanted this! It's not hard to say that she wanted to escape with everyone! Sou, and Sara, and Reko and everyone else! So don't say...say something like that.
[ She's a dumb, useless, sister killing kid and she didn't want this to happen. Seeing her sister, and now Sou die in her place...how is she supposed to atone for that? Wasting their lives for someone who couldn't do anything. Its awful.
Her eyes stray up to Sou's face, then down, widening to the lack of a collar poking up from behind the scarf. Sara is the same. ]
She didn't want to win without either of you...
[ Being haunted anyway...by someone kind. But it was her fault wasn't it, if she won? So why couldn't they be cruel? ]
[The smile feels stuck on his face, pasted, as she grabs his arm, corners twitching as it tries to fall and can't. Stop stop stop stop stop stop it stop... STOP IT, something somewhere is trying to apply the brakes but uh.]
Ahaha... of course you didn't want it Kanna. You're a good kid like that... [How is his attempt at at a comforting tone coming out so wrong has he just done this too much, drunk too much of it, and now he's just stuck being this now? Who's in control right now?] Escape with everyone huh... would be nice...
[He still remembers it, the high and low of it.]
It's disgusting isn't it... but... can't I be happy it's you? It's not like there's anything that can be done now...
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
REGAIN HER WALLET AND GIVE IT BACK TO HER. APOLOGIZE.
The laptop. It didn't get taken to the next floor... Weren't you just keeping it in your room until then? [ Or maybe her Sou still had it, but had just hidden it, a disturbing thought. ] If...If that was me...then it can't be the main game yet. There's a ten minute break before the game so they would have cleaned the body up.
[ She remembers how quickly they came to collect Mishima's. So that body had to be extremely recent. Even more curious if it was her collar that killed her, then there was no way the organization didn't know where her body was.]
Joe...? [ She's so wrapped up in her thoughts the name takes a second to register before she remembers, oh, balancing guy. Yeah she doesn't want to think about him. ] Lets forget about the AI's for now! The laptop or Rangers chip...might be more within our grasp.
LISTEN HE'S ALREADY BEEN DECKED ONCE
[They're both wrong, it's actually floor B4 because they're underground. He goes from looking smug to glancing down in hard thought.]
I've been thinking about that... if this fake you committed a rule violation of some kind...
[It... feels like it both makes sense and doesn't. Sara isn't... well, okay, she can be stupid or weird sometimes, but not really in a way that directly jeopardizes her that badly.
Also ??? Bit of an odd response. He would have thought she'd have wanted to see the AI... he was a bit prepared to try and head her off from that because he'd realized halfway though going through the computers he could remember that it was probably still in it's unaltered state and he'd have to fix it before turning it on but... still, saves him from having to do that... he grins.]
Right! If this is before the main game... then it's absolutely still in my room. And you're the one who found the chip in the first place, right? You know where it is. [He and Miss Nao didn't know much more than that the evil AI had told her to get it from Sahalin, so that was a lucky break... a lucky break taking advantage of Sara's amazing tendency to velcro up important items.]
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[ Genuinely frustrated...]
I..d-don't think I'd violate the rules so brazenly? [ Its not like there were many rules. What could she have done? Refused to enter the main game? Tried to escape? But there was no evidence of either. ] But that was an execution...so there must be a reason.
Lets head there. [ She's turning the corner to the main lobby, pushing open the door so they can walk through to the rooms. ] Kai's laptop first. For the chip we'd need both Rio and Sahfalin here. Rio has to die to get it.
[ So, Kai's laptop might be there best way to search this place. Unless they want to team up to kill different robot. Sara pushes at the door firmly, making the dark hallway flash with light and the sudden blow of the same dark charred scent of the stairs. A few bodies lay crumpled, Keiji lies still in a similar pool of blood, but Reko, a little closer to the door, is an headless husk ending in a tangle of charred wires. Sara goes very still for a second, and then firmly, pointledly, steps over her. ]
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Thankfully for him the conversation moves on, and then Sara opening the door kills it.]
...Ah.
[So it's... not just Sara. He stands in the doorway for a bit, looking down. The doll Reko... he closes his eyes and smoothly moves around her, coming up next to Sara. A little more of that familiar nervousness is edging back into his disposition despite himself. He couldn't even really say why.]
What happened here... I-it's like a massacre. [A horrible thought starts to occur to him, that he wants to be wrong about. Sometimes, every so often, a tendency to extrapolate will turn out to be on the right track. He scratches at his neck through the scarf, slowly.] Do you think... the others...?
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[ Sara says it calmly, but her voice is flat and stiff. There's a tremor of anger, or a tremor of fear, but shes stamping both down enough to push her bangs out of her face and not look at Keiji's body in the corner. That's not him. The real Keiji is alive. ]
To execute three people...would be wasting votes, right? So it could be, the game is over? They didn't need us anymore? [ What a terrible thought. She turns to look at Sou with a haunted expression, before she squares her shoulders and looks him dead on. ]
Sou, are you still sure you want to go look in your room?
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[Put there to thin out the herd... Disgusting, really. He faces her haunted expression with an empty smile before turning his head away.]
But execution... can't be they just got bored, could it?
[He glances back up at her after she squares her shoulders and asks.]
.......It's like you said, isn't it? If we want a clue, then we have to go forward.
[The worst part about things like this, he doesn't miss it. Nobody will just give you the answers, Shin. Go find things out for yourself. But he can brace himself for what they might find. It's not real. It never happened. This is all just... the school's macabre puppet show. Kanna is out there and alive and... as fine as he could hope for. And himself... well, he's died before...
...and the elevator is still there. There's a beat and then he starts moving.]
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Balancing. [ Sara mutters quietly when Shin brings up first trials as if thats a concept she's explained to him. Again, another knot in the web of preparation. She coughs, raising her voice as she follows after him. ] I don't think I'm wrong. This game had a purpose, like these collars. So I absolutely can't believe they'd kill us on a whim.
[ She follows after him towards his room, but half a step behind. Normally stalwart, Sara doesn't want to be close when it comes to Sou's room. The knowledge of her own corpses location is strange comfort. They've already seen it, so there's no way it can be here, doing anything suspicious. With that in mind, it should be easy to put her worries and sins aside, and help Sou...right? ]
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Ahaha... well, you'd know more wouldn't you?
[A bit of a jab, Midori's last name the tuning fork it's done with... but also his way of dropping slash conceding the argument.
His pace is brisk and stiff but at least there's no other bodies in the hall connecting the rooms... Shin comes to a stop at his, staring at the door. The scarf swings with the motion and stills like a pendulum. He sets his hand on the doorknob. There's a second or two before he inhales, exhales, and opens it like ripping off the bandaid.
The smell of blood instantly once more assaults their senses. Shin freezes, fingers dangling then falling off the doorknob, looking into the room with widened eyes before slowly walking in.]
cracks my knuckles as i prepare to spend my evening writing more descriptions of corpses
[ She doesn't have a response to that. Instead, she stands silently behind him as Shin turns the handle. His eyes widen, and he steps inside shakily, following by the reeking stench of blood. Sara falls in half step behind him, tugging at the bow of her uniform with hidden anxeity.
Shin's room looks much the same as it had, all those months ago. The bed is crumpled and unmade, the warm lights ascew and the windows dark. The only splash of color is a vivid stain of red and teal crumpled by the side of the bed. Shin lies chest down...the head itself is missing, instead replaced by a stain of lurid red which blends into the puddle of singed scarf. His hand is still outstretched, reaching out forward with bloody fingers and several broken nails. As Sara stares, she could almost swear she saw them twitch, but that might have been her own rapidly blurring vision.
But that wasn't the only thing in the room, when Sara raised her gaze to the bedside table, Sara saw a familiar bucket and mess of green hair that had every half hearted comfort dead in its tracks. ]
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On the outside, he just sways a little, glazed eyes fixed on it and hand firmly in scarf. His mind is oil on water suddenly, separated out. He's watching himself move.]
Gloomy... [It's a murmur, a comment, a sigh, detached. He takes a step forward, and actually lifts his eyes up and what he sees... it's enough to crash through that like the crack of lightning that happens when two charges collide. His voice is very, very small.]
...K- Kanna...?
[Kanna? It's the only thought in his head. That she still has her head is registering on the subconscious level but not breaking through.]
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Sou! SOU!
[ Kanna Kazuchi, small, collarless and alive, stands on the other side of the bed, shaking like a leaf. The front of her shirt is stained with blood, her eyes are glazed and shaking but she looks at Shin with a feverish clarity. ]
Y-you're alive? Did it stop? Did Kanna mistake something again? ...She thought she saw...
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Aha... ahaha... That's my line... I'm... I'm alive, Kanna... I'm sorry I couldn't...
[Tell you. Be there for you. Be a better person in general, when it came to you.
It's not real.]Come here, Kanna. Don't... don't look at it... It's not real.
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[ It's funny because...its not a convincing lie. The body is right there between them, like the phone, like everything else, but Kanna isn't the type of girl. She wanted to stand on her own, for the kind words of the people who protected her...but it was their words that mattered, even if they were lies. She was weak like that. Even if Sou wasn't real, she wanted to see him again. She wanted to hear: It's alright.
She sprints to meet him, stepping over his own body to grip at the corners of his jacket. Her sleeves are wet and red, but she reaches up a shaking hand to grab at his scarf and sob into his chest. ]
Kanna was so afraid. She...she thought you were gone, Sou. Kanna was so useless, she couldn't do anything. Again and again...she can't protect anyone. [ The rest is cut off by a sob. ]
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And if his breath is hitching a little as well, it's just silent laughter.]
Kanna... [His heart is breaking. There's a long stretch of time he leaves it at that, working his tongue with his teeth because he can't mess this up again, he can't.] You're just a kid... I-it's not your job to... we're supposed to protect you, that's how it is...
[He's giving silent thanks to the body on the floor, himself both dead and alive and Kanna alive alive alive.]
1/
Still in the hall, that half step hesitance behind Sou casting her perfectly in shadow as she watches Kanna reach out to Sou. The way his breath hitches, the way they cling to each other. Truly, its undoubtable how much they cared for each other. She can't even be sure why she doubted it. She's never seen Sou look like this, never in a million years. Never seen him smile like there wasn't anything weighing him down, not a trace of Sou Hiyori to be seen.
She ruined this. She...it was her. There's no one else she can blame. She took this away from him--the words catch-- I didn't want too! What had she been thinking back then...the memories are fuzzy with panic, the thought process of a girl she knows is her, but could hardly recognize.
Kanna's getting blood all over Shin's shirt. She's hugging him...Sara...Sara can't look. ]
2/
She's gripping her head, sweating bullets, and if the two in front of her weren't so distracted, they'd probably notice. Sara lowers her hands.
Kanna...at what point did Sara stop thinking about Kanna like she was a person, instead of a nameless sin? Back then, she thanked Sara, she told Sara too look after Sou, and Sara's been trying, right? She defended him from Midori, she helped him here, keeping that will alive. Even if looking at Sou's hateful expression...she thought maybe she'd regretted it. That she made the wrong choice. Kanna had been a kid, Sou was right, but Sara she...
She'd grown numb to it, just a little. To the reality of not being able to save Kanna and Nao. But now it stood stark and cruel before her, a thousand times worse then anything Midori had said about her true nature.
What's your excuse this time Sara? ]
3/
She...cannot break down here. She cannot, absolutly not, NEVER let Sou know. He'd kill her. She knows he will, even if she tries to carry on Kanna's wish. He'd kill her, and she'd deserve it. She doesn't want to die.
The two of them are still distracted, so...so...its enough time to bite down on the palm of her hand, and stifle any cry. Force her face back into something more approaching greatfullness. Somehow, she'd doubt Sou would notice, with Kanna by his side again. She wasn't good at emoting at the best of times. She was clammy enough, from her brush with her own corpse...
It's a small thing, to step forward.]
Kanna...it's good to see you again.
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[ The hug, its warm. ​]
Kanna...Kanna just wanted to say thank you. But Kanna never even got the chance! So please, let Kanna say-
[ She looks up when Sara speaks, hurriedly wiping her face with a dirty sleeve to peer around Shin's shoulder.]
Sara! You too! You're both here?
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He takes a step swinging outwards so they're all facing each other, breaking the hug; the arm closest to Kanna lingering for a second more before returning to it's usual place. He's still standing close to her, the way Sara might remember... going into a room to see them there like peas in a pod.]
Yep. Just the two of us, though.
[The spell's sort of been broken... now he has no idea how he's going to deal with this. He wipes the edges of his eyes with a thumb matter-of-factly, falling back into a default. It's one thing to want to change, another to rip off every inch of your own tattered stitched-together skin. He should know.]
Let's get you out of here, Kanna.
[Maybe she'd disappear like smoke and mirrors, the moment he took his eyes off her, and he knows he'll hate the school deeply and vindictively for it, but he couldn't live with himself either, insomuch as he still can, if he didn't try. She can't stay here, in the silent dark with only corpses.
...it's probably apparent that thoughts of the laptop have been detonated. That sort of thing happens even when you're not behind it, Sara.]
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She waves a hand to say hello. Sara might not be like Shin, in some concrete belief her touch is poison, but she thinks if Kanna comes any closer she might loose what composure she's regained. ]
Yes, everyone else... [ The look she shoots Shin is hesitant and tight, how much should they say? ] Everyone else seemed...do you know what happened?
[ The second look she shoots Shin is more severe, a pained wild, indescribable expression, half close to something genuine breaking through because yes, she might want to protect Kanna somewhere, deep among every conflicted feeling, but this isn't real, is it? This is still that elevator...a nightmare meant to torment them. ...Torment her, probably. Shin seems happy. But the school knew what she couldn't bear to see. ]
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Kanna...she...doesn't know. [ It takes an few tries for he to get the words out, gripping Shin's coat like a lifeline. ] We were alone in the room...and all the collars went off. It was so noisy. She could hear it...all across the floor.
[ Her other hand comes up to grip at her bucket, staring down at her feet as the younger girl tries to cling to a courage that feels too big for her. But Kanna...she needs to tell someone, she can't break down like Kugie. She wants to understand, so she has to focus. ]
But now Kanna is confused. Because, what she remembers isn't true. She thought...Sou...When he heard that. He grabbed Kanna. He did something with her collar, but before Kanna could even blink, he'd pushed her away. It was so fast. Kanna didn't even have a chance to try! She c-couldn't, not even in time to ask him why! [ The damn finally breaks, and she wrenches her hand away from Sou to sob suddenly into her hands. ]
Did..that not happen? Is everything actually okay, and Kanna's just crazy? She's so confused, because Sara and Sou are here and okay, and getting along now. Does this mean she died?
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He doesn't try to shake Kanna off or detach her as she explains... she's Allowed. :' )]
I wouldn't think about it too hard, if I were you.
[Easy, almost too easy, to slip into the same groove, the same footsteps. Don't even bother Kanna, silly child. You wouldn't get it, so don't even try. Just leave it to him and do what he says... and don't betray him. Some soft part of him mewls a pained warning, and it widens into a sharp split, like turning something double-sided inside out, when she asks if she died, because he knows that well, hand hovering and falling as she sobs, leaning over, head turned to her.]
Y-you're still breathing, aren't you? Just focus on that...
[What she's said though... the collars all going off at once? That's... not impossible, but why? Why end the game there? He can belatedly and begrudgingly admit it... Sara has a point. It's bizarre. Kanna's though... he must have used his key on her. He can't help but glance at himself on the floor, like levering up a scab. Blood under his fingernails... he'd regretted it, he'd clawed at his collar and spat at the world in his last moments, still trying any way out to survive but... before that, he'd done it, knowing it. In at least one universe, even if it was a school's sick play, he'd done it. He'd asked Sidney what made them different... and this is... in it's own way, an answer.]
Ahaha... I guess this means... you've won, Kanna. You've won! Ahahahaha....
[The laugh and the smile... they're warped by his own incongruous relief.]
skipping sara for the spice
[ Her eyes are still full of tears, even as she turns to grab onto Sou's arm, the already stained fabric stretching taunt as she stares up at him. ]
Don't! Just don't! Don't make it sound like Kanna wanted this! It's not hard to say that she wanted to escape with everyone! Sou, and Sara, and Reko and everyone else! So don't say...say something like that.
[ She's a dumb, useless, sister killing kid and she didn't want this to happen. Seeing her sister, and now Sou die in her place...how is she supposed to atone for that? Wasting their lives for someone who couldn't do anything. Its awful.
Her eyes stray up to Sou's face, then down, widening to the lack of a collar poking up from behind the scarf. Sara is the same. ]
She didn't want to win without either of you...
[ Being haunted anyway...by someone kind. But it was her fault wasn't it, if she won? So why couldn't they be cruel? ]
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Ahaha... of course you didn't want it Kanna. You're a good kid like that... [How is his attempt at at a comforting tone coming out so wrong has he just done this too much, drunk too much of it, and now he's just stuck being this now? Who's in control right now?] Escape with everyone huh... would be nice...
[He still remembers it, the high and low of it.]
It's disgusting isn't it... but... can't I be happy it's you? It's not like there's anything that can be done now...
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ma'am this is a wendys
YEAH?? SHE CAN CRY IN A WENDYS IF SHE WANTS WHAT ARE YOU A COP?
understandable have a nice day